As
some of you may know we have been having some trouble with my little one who
has been chronically throwing up for the past 6 – 8 months. At first we were
told to ignore it but we got a second opinion and was quickly referred to a GI
specialist at Sick Kids Hospital. They did a bunch of blood tests, which didn’t
really give us any answers so an endoscopy was done earlier this month.
Our little boy was put under and an upper
endoscopy was done with multiple biopsies. We just found out that the results
that came from the biopsies were useful. Turns out, he has very high levels of
eosinophil in his upper, mid and lower esophagus and has been diagnosed with
something called EOE (eosinophilic esophagitis).
To a layman, it’s an allergy that is not anaphylactic
(as is the case with Ellil and peanuts) but an allergy nonetheless. Apparently,
a reaction to the allergy can happen up to 10 days post ingestion, which is why
it felt like his vomiting was completely random! We couldn’t link it back to
any particular food as such, except milk so we stopped giving him milk thinking
that maybe it was a lactose intolerance issue.
But clearly the issue isn’t lactose.
We met with the GI Doctor, the nurse who
we’ve been in touch with for the appointments and then we were put through to
their Dietician who came in to see us last.
The Doctor talked to us about EOE.
Explained the history and symptoms in different age groups and also the two
routes we could take with treatment. Option 1 was give him a steroid, which is
temporary and his condition could be chronic so nobody was keen to go this
route. The second route was to withhold the allergen it seemed most likely to
be causing the issue. In his case, milk
or dairy of any sort.
There are 6 allergens. Milk, eggs, wheat,
soy, peanuts/treenuts and shellfish. In 7 out of 10 cases for children in Ro’s
age group the culprit is milk. So it seems like the obvious type of food to
withhold and see if he gets better and starts putting on weight and stops
vomiting.
The dietician explained the issue and in
more detail what the treatment entailed.
No milk, cheese, butter, foods with dairy or milk solids or milk powder.
But we have to substitute with other high caloric foods and give calcium and
vitamin D.
Okay. Take a breath. Here we go.
Feels like we are entering a new world
order. A world where milk comes from
nuts, cheese comes from rice and banana bread is made with avocadoes. What is going on here?!
I was so careful when I was pregnant with both
of them. No pop. No caffeine. No alcohol. No sushi. Walked everyday. Ate lots
of vegetables and fruit. Took my multivitamin religiously. Maybe not as
religiously as I think? I know I missed a few days here and there…who knows?
I also couldn’t breastfeed him the first 10
days because of my PDPH for which I am still incensed at the anesthesiologist
at St. Mike’s about. And I wonder if I had been able to breastfeed him from the
start, that maybe all this wouldn’t have happened. But I will never know that.
On the bright side, we know what the issue
is and in this day and age, thanks to stores like Whole Foods that keep these
alternative products on their shelves (dairy free frozen cheese pizza as an
example) it makes it a lot easier to feed our kids.
If you have any dairy free recipes for birthday
cakes, please send it my way!
